


Mistletoe

by Hpchemgrad



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Christmas, Dialogue is not my strong point, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-22 04:01:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13158855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hpchemgrad/pseuds/Hpchemgrad
Summary: Day 12 of the 12 Days of Jily ChristmasPrompt: Mistletoe





	Mistletoe

Mistletoe. The Holiday tradition that James hadn’t even thought about until it became A Problem. He was in his seventh year and, despite his lack of any free time at all, he was proud to be the Head Boy to Lily Evans’ Head Girl.

Christmas-time in the castle was beautiful and something he looked forward to every year. Large trees were decorated throughout the Great Hall, tinsel and baubles lined classrooms and corridors. Mistletoe was placed randomly about and had a tendency to move where you would least expect them, and enchanted mistletoe required some type of kiss before its victims could move out from underneath it. This wasn’t new, every year Hogwarts had the same decor. He had never really worried about the problematic plant before; but, before, he wasn’t walking to classes and meetings and meals with Lily Evans. Sure, his 15 year old self might have (and certainly did) concocted subtle plans to get Lily under some mistletoe with him- not that he would have known what to do once he got her there. But now? Now he was avoiding the possibility at all cost. He and Lily were, he would now confidently say, friends. Close friends, even. James enjoyed her friendship even more than he ever anticipated; after all, she was smart, sharp, hysterical, and surprisingly devious. In addition to those things, she was also the most beautiful girl he had ever seen and hearing her laughter did funny things to his chest. He would be the happiest person in the world if she decided she felt the same about him as he felt about her, but just being her friend was more than enough. 

Which meant – he needed to avoid mistletoe at all costs. James had dreamt of their first kiss for years, and while his younger self loved the drama and false romance of the mistletoe plant, now that he was older and wiser he knew that if he ever did get to kiss Lily he wanted it to be natural and real and for better reasons than a plant. He also knew that if he got to kiss Lily once, well, once would never be enough.

That didn’t mean he had lost hope for the two of them. Since she had befriended Sirius, Lily had given James another chance. They quickly progressed from acquaintances to friends to close friends. Their Head meetings would lead to tangents about their personal lives as they told each other secrets and fears. James hoped he didn’t imagine the blush that stained her cheeks the times their hands would accidentally touch. Each day that went by made James more confident that he would someday get a kiss from Lily Evans – and not with the help of a stupid plant.

He also despised the mistletoe more and more as he watched how often Lily was stuck under it. First it was Remus. Innocent Remus. The two had been walking to DADA together when they were forced to stop. Upon looking up, Lily began to giggle and Remus cleared his throat. She went up on her toes and gave him several loud smacking kisses on each cheek – increasing Remus’ unease and her own amusement. While frustrated, James was glad he had gotten distracted and fallen behind. 

Next was Mary. Sweet Mary. They were all leaving the Great Hall when the mistletoe commanded their attention. Lily, all theatrics, got down on one knee and took Mary’s hand. She proceeded to sensually kiss Mary’s hand and loudly declare their love. Mary finally had enough, stuck her nose up in the air, and declared that it just wasn’t working out anymore and they needed a break. Lily stood up and both girls went off to class giggling, leaving James forgotten behind.

After that was Peter. Poor Peter. At the entrance of the library, they found themselves under the mistletoe. At this point, James was beginning to recognize how often Lily was in this situation and was thankful that, once again, he had fallen behind due to questions about the next quidditch practice. This time, Peter took the initiative and, in an effort to get out of the situation as quickly as possible, he gave her a quick peck on the cheek. Lily rolled her eyes, as though he had taken away all her fun, but continued on her way.

Sirius was next and possibly the most upsetting. Lily was walking between James and Sirius on their way to Transfiguration, all enjoying a fun afternoon. The fun ended for James as the three of them were caught under the mistletoe. After a long pause where each were afraid to move, Lily huffed, got up on her toes and planted a solid kiss directly on Sirius’ mouth. Sirius, in a swift movement, took Lily by the waist and dipped her nearly to the ground where he planted a kiss of his own on her lips. James was mortified for far too many reasons for a peaceful afternoon. First, Lily had clearly chosen to kiss Sirius instead of him; while James was still actively avoiding getting caught under it with Lily, it stung to know that she was doing the same. Second, even though the lips clearly stayed closed, there was just something more intimate about a kiss on the lips. She had chosen a far less innocent kiss, with Sirius and, third, Sirius did it right back. After the dip, they merrily walked the rest of the way to Transfiguration as though James heart hadn’t dropped.

Later on, Sirius simply shrugged when James asked what on earth had gotten into the two of them. He was hurt, but still determined to avoid a meaningless kiss from Lily. The mistletoe seemed to be attracted to her this year and whenever they were walking together, James was on the lookout often taking them strange routes to avoid it. The closer it got to Christmas, the more the mistletoe seemed to find itself near himself and Lily. One of his avoidances, the sudden need to tie his shoes, caused her to get stuck under the mistletoe with Barnaby Huckles, a fifth year Ravenclaw who had been trying to coax Lily into a Hogsmeade date all term. The poor Ravenclaw was delighted for the opportunity but received no more than the chance to give her a quick peck on the cheek. She was red-faced with fury when James picked on her for it later. 

It got to a point where James would stay after class to talk to the professors in an attempt to give her a head start, he would also intentionally be late to meals to ensure he didn’t have to sit beside her and risk mistletoe attack mid-meal. It became so dire that as they left a prefect meeting together, James saw an incoming mistletoe and literally sprinted away mid-conversation, not looking back to see the crestfallen expression on Lily’s face.

James had developed a sixth sense for mistletoe sighting and, therefore, quickly noticed that it was nearly impossible to avoid the next day. If he had been paying closer attention, he would have noted the importance difference that, before, he only came across the troublesome plant while in Lily’s presence; now however, it seemed to be everywhere she wasn’t. If he was a bit more observant of the people around him instead of the ceiling overhead, he would have noticed Lily distancing herself from him, behaving less friendly and less open.

Five days after he sprinted away, James had been unable to avoid the mistletoe with no less than 6 people. He received a kiss on the forehead and a pat on the head from Remus, an awkward kiss on the nose from Peter that caused them both to burst into laughter, a kiss full on the mouth from Sirius which he reciprocated, much to the discomfort of Professor Slughorn, a kiss from the Ravenclaw Seeker which he was able to turn his cheek for at the last minute, and a kiss from the beautiful seventh year Hufflepuff prefect, Jasmine Finch,  who acted too quickly for him to turn his cheek. For a plant he hadn’t cared about in previous years, it was completely ruining his Christmas Spirit. Moody-James was less observant than Normal-James and he failed to pick up on the highly unusual lack of Christmas Spirit in the Head Girl.

Three days before they were set to leave on Christmas break, James found himself in the library (a blessedly mistletoe-free zone) searching for a method to repel the ridiculous plant. In the midst of his search, he heard hushed voices and, upon hearing his name, crept towards the conversation to eavesdrop. There was clearly a male voice and a female voice and James was surprised that, as he got closer, he recognized one of them as Sirius. His best mate seemed to be imploring that whoever he was talking to needed to stop what they were doing. It was so bizarre hearing Sirius talking to someone in secret about him in addition to the knowledge that Sirius Black was holding conference in the Library of all places that James missed the reply of the female voice.

“I know he’s an idiot, but what you’re doing is no better.”

“Black, he obviously doesn’t want to snog me. There must be somebody else he’s dying to snog”

“C’mon Red, are you handling this maturely?”

“Did you… Did you just say…”

“I’m wise. You know this. I know this. Be less surprised. And listen to me when I say that he does, in fact, want to snog you.”

James heard a snort, which combined with the nickname, Red, made it obvious Sirius was talking to Lily. James was about to walk away, both downhearted that Lily wanted to snog someone and furious that Sirius knew and didn’t tell him. But he paused when he heard his name again.

“I gave James every opportunity, Black. A full week and a half of opportunities. And for a while I thought it was just a coincidence that he needed to tie his shoe or take me through a secret passage, but it became alarmingly clear that he was simply avoiding snogging me when HE. SPRINTED. AWAY. FROM. ME. MID. CONVERSATION.”

James was frozen. He heard Sirius sigh, “So you’re hoping to prove what exactly by using your oh, so superior charms skills to bombard him with mistletoe everywhere he goes?”

“Obviously it isn’t me he wants to snog. But we’re mates, right? There must be someone else and he ought to be happy no matter how I feel.”

Before James could process what he heard, there was a loud crash in the next aisle and James saw a greasy-haired Slytherin scurry away. The crash had interrupted the conversation he was eavesdropping on and Lily and Sirius walked out of the library. James was left in a stack of books, no longer in search of a way to rid himself of his mistletoe problem, but instead convincing himself that, if he heard correctly, Lily Evans was the cause of his plant woes because she had been trying to get him to make a move. 

It was became obvious the next two days that Lily had taken Sirius’ advice to heart, leaving the mistletoe to their own devices. James was no longer distracted by rogue flora overhead, instead he was distracted by determining the best way to explain to Lily how he felt about her.

On the last day before James was set to leave for the holidays, the Head Students were finishing up the end of the paperwork for the term. As they packed their things, James stomach was in knots. He summoned a nearby bauble, which captured Lily’s attention. As she watched, he transfigured the bauble into a bundle of mistletoe and was unsurprised by the sudden reddening of her cheeks. The butterflies were going wild inside of him, but he plowed on, determined to stick to the script he had planned. He took a deep breath and said, “Lily Evans, you have been driving me mad all month with this stupid plant.” Her face became impossibly redder and she looked down as she dejectedly said, “Sirius told, didn’t he.” James chuckled, which recaptured her attention; however, it was clear his brief laughter was conveyed as mockery as her expression turned from pained to angry. Quickly, James got back on script and vanished the mistletoe as he spoke, “Lily Evans, you have been driving me mad all month. And now that the bloody mistletoe is gone, I’m going to kiss you. Because I want to. Not because some bloody plant made me” The anger receded from the red head’s face, her jaw went slack, and her eyebrows scrunched in confusion. He gently brushed a piece of hair from her face and leaned in for a kiss which, thankfully, she leaned into as well. 

James had imagined this moment countless times over the years, and, as they deepened the kiss, he knew that his imagination was an absolute disgrace. He felt her hand climb up to his hair and it was safe to say that he had overheard her conversation correctly, she truly did want to snog him. After several of the best minutes of his life, they pulled away – James beaming and Lily wearing an embarrassed smile. James pulled her close and said, “I don’t need any bloody mistletoe to snog you, Lily. I just want you to want it too.” She reached up for another kiss and, after another couple minutes said, “I’ve been hinting for months, James. I was forced to take drastic measures!” James chuckled, happier than he could ever remember being. After a few moments of holding each other, James broke the comfortable silence with a whisper, “I’m yours Lily, I hope you know that.” Lily kissed him again, grinning, “I’m yours too.”


End file.
